Linux backlash leads to California law change on age verification — with the original lawmaker forced to make a humbling step back

Linux penguin logo on wood.

• 2025 California law requires OS vendors to obtain user age brackets to boost protection
• Linux community worried that a lack of commercial ownership make it difficult to enforce
• The change would also require vendors to share "only the minimum... information necessary"

A new California amendment bill aims to make most mainstream open source Linux distros, like Ubuntu, exempt from the state's upcoming age-verification requirements.